Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian (Armenian: Սերժ Թանգեան) is the Armenian-American lead vocalist for System of a Down, as well as a keyboardist, guitarist, and songwriter for the band. Serj is also a record producer, and a activist for such causes as anti-globalism anti-militarism, and the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Serj is also a poet, with his first ever full-length book of poetry entitled, Cool Gardens, released in 2002. Serj and Tom Morello (guitarist most closely associated with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave) are co-founders of the nonprofit organization Axis of Justice. The group works with grassroots political organizations to combine music with sentiments of anti-war beliefs, anti-racism, anti-censorship, and anti-corporatism. In 2003, Serj and Turkish-Armenian musician Arto Tunçboyacıyan pursued an experimental System of a Down side-project album, Serart, that was released on Serj's own record label, Serjical Strike. Childhood Serj was born into the heat of the ceaseless Israeli-Lebanese Conflict in 1967 as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fought Israel on Lebanese soil, using Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to fight who had previously fled Israel during the Arab-Israeli War. By 1975, the bloodshed intensified as the Lebanese Civil War broke out as a result of the PLO conflicts, as well as religious tensions between Christians and Muslims within Lebanon. At the age of eight, shortly after the UN intervened in these increasingly abrasive times in Lebanon, Serj and the Tankian family (including Serj's grandparents who fled the Armenian Genocide of 1915) were offered sanctuary in the US. Knowing minimal English, they moved from the virtual war zone of Beirut to Hollywood in 1975. In their new home, the Tankians enrolled Serj and his brother Sevag at the Rose & Alex Pilibos School, a small, two-story, K-12 private school that catered to Armenian-Americans in "Little Armenia" in East Hollywood. Serj was very aware of his Armenian heritage at a young age, as well as academically motivated and politically-minded throughout his years in grade school. He was a successful student and considered himself to be more “anti-conformist” than the majority of his schoolmates. As a teen, he indulged himself in poetry (especially the works of TS Eliot), Armenian and African music, as well as popular bands of the 1980s. In addition to being a well rounded scholar and quite the young humanist, Serj was a teenage advocate for his ethnicity as a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, through which Serj claims his "eyes were opened to activism and the importance of fighting injustice". College & Early Career Serj attended California State University Northridge(CSUN) after graduating from high school, earning his bachelor's degree in Business and Marketing, which he considered at the time to be the most financially logical route to take. But nevertheless, Serj’s interest in activism only continued to grow throughout college, as did his realm of musical taste which now includes punk and metal bands. After graduating, he bounced from job to job through manufacturing, retail, and accounting among several companies, before setting up a small business of his own called Propriety Vertical Industry Modular Accounting Software. There, he was self-employed, independent, and free to spend his spare time as he pleased as he worked on his own time. Serj says that he and a small crew “developed customized accounting software systems for the jewelry industry in Calfiornia” and “worked manufacturing a wholesale, fully-integrated accounting system for jewelers and an accounting system of the metal industry.” But at the same time, he was slowly developing skill as a keyboardist and vocalist into his early-to-mid-twenties. While still operating the business, Serj joined his first band with a few of his Amerenian-American friends. He was the band's keyboardist, and was heavily influenced by Eastern music that he had grown up on, especially Armenian folk songs. The band settled on the name Forever Young in 1994 and shared rehearsal space with another local all-Armenian band called Soil. Soil consisted of young guitarist Daron Malakian, Dave Hagopyan on bass, and a drummer that went by the name Domingo. But Soil was still without a lead vocalist. Serj became quickly acquainted and friendly with the members of Soil, and being that the two bands were often spending time with each other in the same practice space, members of Soil often caught strong scents of Serj's talents. They were exposed to not only his ability on keyboards, but his exotic flair for singing, and the sounds of Armenian folk music that clearly influenced his creativity. Soil soon sought out Serj to complete their ensemble. Indeed Serj left Forever Young and joined Soil as lead vocalist, adding his own undertones of the Old Country to their already heavy metal sound. In 1995 as Soil became more and more proactive as a band, Armenian-born friend Shavo Odadjian began managing the foursome. Shortly after his arrival, Shavo arranged their first gig, opening at the Café Club Fais Do-Do located between Culver City and downtown Los Angeles. The nonchalant performance went over smoothly, but not long after it took place, "creative tensions" and mere general disagreements caused Dave Hagopyan and Domingo to depart from Soil. This left Serj and Daron, two polar opposites, each other. The two of them turned to Shavo, who happened to be somewhat of an amateur guitarist, and talked him into becoming the band's new bassist. Yet this left the roll of drummer unfilled. Personal Life On June 9, 2012, Tankian married his long-time girlfriend Angela Madatyan in a private ceremony in Simi Valley, California. Madatyan was born in Vanadzor, Armenia. On October 24, 2014, Tankian announced that he and his wife had their first child, a son named Rumi. He now resides in Warkworth, a semi-rural town north of Auckland, New Zealand. External Links *SerjTankian.com *SerjicalStike.com *Serj Tankian Russia Category:System of a Down Category:System of a Down Members Category:Serj Tankian Category:System of a Down Category:System of a Down Members Category:Serj Tankian